Author's Notes: Thankyou for the reviews and messages! They are much appreciated.
I'm going to be developing the Colonial side for the next few chapters. The Earth and SG1 side will be in there as well, but not as much. I will get to that though, but first the Colonies need to get some things done!
Some responses to reviews that are probably overdue:
Animefan29: the last chapter was a prelude and foreshadowing for an entire story-arc in this story. It was building up to some things. So no, not a lot happened, but to those of us who know the future, quite a bit happened – hehe.
Tim81182: Yeah I started this story several years ago as a way to overcome writers block for other stories I was working on. I've only picked it up recently. You can probably tell the difference in writing style and grammar between the two periods.
Stark40763: we'll be getting back to that storyline, and the Colonial command's response to their actions on the 'sleeping people hooked into a network world'.
Darkfinder: that's exactly what they're doing
Nedy Rahn: thanks for your messages! They've helped me think about my outline for this story and refine it!
Origins of Humanity
Chapter 11
Battlestar Pegasus
Commander Helena Cain barely noticed the distortion from an FTL jump now. There had been little reason to do them when they were in-system and were a rare occurrence. On this mission they had performed rapid jumps to get out here quickly to recover the Stargate. That had gotten most of the crew completely comfortable with FTL jumps and reduced the side-effects.
She had been mid-stride during this jump, moving from her quarters to the CIC. The Battlestar Pegasus had now been away from the fleet, operating alone in deep space, for four days. In those four days they had surveyed two of three other solar systems that were meant to contain Stargates. In each system they had found a habitable world, which once was habited by a relatively primitive human society before it had been wiped out by the Cylons.
Surprisingly the solar systems they had surveyed had been remarkably scarce in resources, apart from those generated by a habitable world. The rest of each solar system had been characteristic of the barren nature of the universe, according to Colonial records prior to three months ago. None of the systems had any kind of asteroid belt or gas giants with any high concentrations of trace metals in their atmospheres. Tylium deposits were not economical for mining this far out from the Colonies.
As soon as they had stabilised from their jump, a series of raptors were launched on a mission to survey the system and map any habitable worlds and resources that they found, which was a high probability given that they knew that there was a Stargate in this system. This was their last system that they would survey before they would turn and trace their path back to the Colonies with their report.
It struck Commander Helena Cain as odd that these four systems with Stargates were spread relatively closely together in the grand scheme of things. It seemed as if they were clustered together. Granted, they were not clustered together nearly as much as the Colonies were, but considering the information that they had on their corner of the galaxy, they were still close. She pushed those thoughts to the side as she walked into the CIC.
"Status report?" She asked Jurgen Belzen, her Executive Officer.
"No contacts on DRADIS. CAP has been established. Reconnaissance raptors have launched. Landing party is gearing up and should leave within the next twenty minutes if the recon raptors give us the green light," Cain replied. They all knew the routine by now, having done it on three other planets before. Cain was not expecting anything else from this world. She knew that the Cylons were ruthless. They had almost nuked every settlement from orbit on the last world that they had visited, only having landed and killed the indigenous population in a few villages.
"Good. Launch some additional Raptors with the CAP to extend our DRADIS range to 1.5 standard," Cain replied before looking at the plot of the solar system on the electronic display table in the centre of the CIC.
Everything was going smoothly until twenty minutes later when they heard back from one of the reconnaissance Raptors early.
"Raptor four-two-zero to Pegasus Actual," Cain heard over the loudspeakers in CIC.
"Pegasus Actual, go ahead," Cain replied after picking up a handset and getting patched through to the Raptor.
"We can see signs of a current civilisation down on the night-side of the planet. Nothing extraordinary, but matching the scale of the previous worlds we've encountered," the Raptor pilot said.
"Copy that Raptor four-two-zero. Maintain orbital reconnaissance and do not approach the atmosphere. Return to Pegasus once complete," Cain replied. This was a new one. The last thing she expected was to encounter anyone alive on this planet. But then again, there might not be anyone alive. It might be a Cylon trick or the Cylons could have even set up small camps around the planet for some reason. "It looks like there's signs that someone's alive down there," Cain said to Belzen. "I want you to hold off on the landing party. We should proceed with the first contact protocols developed for the original mission on planet Alpha," Cain said to him.
"You're sure you want to make contact?" Belzen queried. "It could be Cylons," he added.
"I know. But if they're still alive, we've got to contact them and find out," Cain replied. "Ariantas, contact the reconnaissance teams and get them to start transmitting their data back from the planet so our analysts can start on it immediately. We can't wait for them to return," Cain said to their communications officer. She had a theory which was still forming in her mind, but she needed to see the layout of some features on the planet.
Half an hour later and Cain's theory was disproved. On the other three worlds they had surveyed, the Stargate had been isolated from any settlements. She had thought that maybe the civilisation on this planet had access to the Stargate and could have used technology and resources from it, or had migrated to this world from it. Unfortunately the story was the same for this planet though, the Stargate was on the other side of the planet and none of the villages looked like they had regular access to it.
Cain and the command staff picked four landing sites to make contact. One was the closest village to the Stargate, and the other three appeared to be relatively large villages and towns spread across the planet. According to their preliminary analysis, life-conditions on the planet were similar to the Colonies and the other worlds they had surveyed on this mission and there was nothing stopping them from implementing the plan that the fleet had for the first world they had landed on.
Landing Party from the Battlestar Pegasus
Gundwyck McReardon had the lucky job of stepping foot onto each of the worlds that they had surveyed so far. Each one of them had been exciting. To the untrained eye, each world looked relatively the same – blue skies, green trees, grass, dirt. But McReardon could tell the subtle differences. Whilst each planet did have green trees, they were all of a different species to each other. The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of each world, the gravity conditions, their orbits and tilts were all different. These produced different environments on the worlds. So far, each planet had nominal values of these variables within the range experienced by the Colonies, but each new world could present factors that were new and exciting.
The last world, Charlie Planet, had extraordinary atmospheric currents that distributed heat around the globe efficiently, causing almost no temperature differences from equator to pole. The warm climate of the world also resulted in there being no ice present anywhere on the globe. But the landscape had extensive scarring from glaciers that had previously slid across the landscape.
McReardon had been viewing his job as an Environmental Analyst in the Colonial Marines as a stepping stone to a much more lucrative career in the private sector. His long-term plans had been to leave the military in a few years after this mission and start his own contracting company. Now though, all of those plans were changing after he had stepped onto three alien worlds in the last week.
He was getting better at the atmospheric insertions now though. His first insertion on this mission hadn't gone so well for him. He was also starting to get along with some of the marines in his division, having been transferred from the Zeus when they had left to return to the Colonies. The rocking and vibrations of the Raptor as it descended through the atmosphere did not bother him as much anymore. He just closed his eyes and thought about something else, mainly what he was expecting on the planet below. The vibrations began to dissipate as they entered the atmosphere proper and slowed to a reasonable speed.
"Readings Lieutenant," he called out to the ECO. McReardon went through the mental checklist he had in his head and indicated to the ECO that all of the environmental valuables that could affect them on the ground were suitable and wouldn't pose any risk to the landing team.
Two minutes later and they were setting down approximately one kilometre from the village they were going to make contact with. It had been decided that they would fly in low and steady near the village, land and wait for the natives to come to them as they would definitely be noticed. That way the natives would not be as intimidated by the Colonials if they were all just standing around their ships not doing too much.
The Raptors touched down ten minutes later after taking what felt like a lazy cruise above the forest canopy. McReardon was shocked when he got out of the Raptor. It was approximately fifteen-hundred hours local time by his calculations and the sky was a deep, deep blue, almost purple colour. It definitely contrasted with the surrounding vegetation which was a deep green. They would wait for an hour before setting off towards the village if the locals did not come to visit. McReardon started using this time to begin to document some of their surroundings. He was going to begin to write papers about the four worlds they had visited on the trip back to the Colonies so he would have them sitting there ready to go if and when this ever went public. If not, they would be able to be used internally by the Colonial Military.
The marines had set up discrete zones of overlapping fields of fire to cover a fifty-metre radius around the two landed raptors. This way anyone who stayed within the fifty-metre 'go zone' would be covered if anything happened. The vegetation directly around the Raptors wasn't especially thick, consisting of a few bushes and some fairly tall grass so visibility around the Raptors wasn't impeded. McReardon had been checking out some of the local vegetation and soils within the go-zone for the last forty minutes. He was crouching down collecting a soil sample when he heard something moving through the vegetation towards him. He just had time to stand up before he got a glimpse of a relatively old balding man in rags stumbling towards him with his arms outstretched. The old man grabbed McReardon, hugged him and was mumbling profusely.
"McReardon, status?" he heard through his radio mounted to his chest plate. He had his arms up in the air, still allowing the old man to hug him. It was a surprise to McReardon. He wasn't expecting this.
"I'm fine. He's hugging me. No threat yet. He's saying something," McReardon replied into the radio. He got a quick chance to look to where the man had come from and could see younger people emerging from the bushes. They were moving fluidly and had what passed for camouflaged clothes on which more resembled rags. He got a quick glimpse of a few steel axes and some were carrying rather complicated looking bows. He pushed the man off and away from him as he was still mumbling, tears rolling down his face. Surprisingly, McReardon understood a few words that he man was saying. "Slow down, slow down. I can't understand you," McReardon said to him, hoping that he would understand. Visibly, the man took a moment and wiped the tears from his face. He was looking happy.
"Thank the Gods you came. We've been waiting thirty years for a rescue team," he said in perfect Colonial Standard.
Battlestar Pegasus – CIC
For the first time in her life since childhood, Commander Cain was speechless and in shock. Those words had made her feel light headed and she was using her hands, planted on the display table in the CIC to hold her up. She knew that everyone else was in shock as well, but she also knew that those words resonated with her more than most. She replayed them over and over in her head, trying to make sense of what she had heard.
"Some of them are Colonial Prisoners taken during the Cylon War. They were mostly children when they were taken. They were dumped here by the Cylons amongst the native population."
Those were the exact words of the field commander of the landing party. Helena's sister, Lucy Cain, had been taken during the last day of the Cylon War as Cain had hid in a shipping container from the nearby Cylon Centurions. That day had changed Commander Cain forever. She had vowed to join the military to help protect the Colonies, protect other families from being abducted, and to get revenge for her sister if the Cylons had ever returned. Now, there was a possibility, no matter how small it was, that Lucy might be down on that planet.
"Pegasus Actual, do you have a copy?" she heard through the handset.
"Commander," she heard Jurgen say as he put a reaffirming hand on her back. He was the only one on the ship who knew of Lucy and Helena's past. She looked to him and just nodded her head, feeling her emotions marshalling behind her focus and resolve.
"Get your teams to interview everyone they can. I want a list of names from all of the Colonials in each landing zone," Cain replied to the field commander. "Contact us if you require anything else." Commander Cain had literally just put the handset down when a beep emanated from the DRADIS.
"Contact, bearing 11254, 3200, 25413. Unknown configuration," Cain heard the weapons officer read out. The unknown ship wasn't close, but it wasn't far either. Considering the size of the solar system, it had jumped in just about on top of them.
"Action stations. Set Condition One throughout the ship. Launch Red Squadron to reinforce the CAP. Launch Blue Squadron to provide air support to our ground teams." Cain ordered. "Recall all reconnaissance Raptors throughout the system. Get some of them to take a look at it." Cain looked up at the DRADIS, the screen being constantly updated with information about the ship.
"That's almost as big as us," Belzen said next to her, looking at the same information she was. "They're moving towards the planet."
"Sir, Raptor four-two-five reports that the ship is comprised of a dorsal and ventral triangular shape connected by a central pier," the communications officer announced after only a few seconds.
"Cylons. It has to be," Cain reported. Even though it wasn't a straight Basestar as they knew it, it matched the typical characteristics of one. In the minute or two that had passed, Cain had compiled herself from the previous announcement from the field commander and was now firing on all cylinders. The CIC was a flurry of activity around her, everyone rushing to ready the ship for combat. They hadn't been expecting to go to Condition One and the crew was unprepared. "Put me through on all frequencies," Cain responded to the communications officer before picking up the handset again.
"You're transmitting," the communications officer replied.
"This is the Colonial Battlestar Pegasus to unidentified ship. We are protecting the inhabitants of the planet below. Cease your current course towards the planet below or we will be forced to open fire," Cain said to the ship. She put the handset down and continued to stare at the DRADIS screen. The ship was still moving towards the planet.
"There is a power build up in the ship," an officer called out from across the CIC. A few moments later "the ship has disappeared. Characteristics are typical of an FTL jump," the same voice said. Cain could feel most of the staff within the CIC take a collective sigh of relief, but Cain just looked at Belzen. The Cylon ship had either disappeared to get reinforcements, or they had managed to scare it off, for now.
"Put the ship to Condition Two. Blue squadron is to remain in CAP around the planet and provide support to the ground teams. Plot a set of emergency jump coordinates and transmit it to all Raptors in-system before the Cylons return," Cain ordered. There was no time to stick around here. They needed to get all the information they could from the people below on the planet and rescue as many of the Colonial personnel as possible.
"Prepare a Raptor to go down to the planet in fifteen minutes. I want an update on everything we've got about the planet when I'm getting on-board. Jurgen, you have the Con," she said to the CIC before turning and marching out. She was heading towards her room to change into field gear, and then she was going to get some answers.
Raptor four-two-five – In transit from Battlestar Pegasus to Planet Delta.
Three and a half million people lived on the planet below by their best estimates, and they had no idea what percentage of those were Colonials abducted during the Cylon War. If the proportion in the villages near the landing sites was true, there could be at least thirty-thousand Colonials on this planet, not counting their families and children that they had had since being abducted. That was too many people to transport in one Battlestar. They would have to come back with a rescue fleet for anyone who wanted to leave.
It was then that Cain had a brilliant idea. There was a Stargate on this world. They would be able to use it to transport the people to Earth. But as quickly as Cain had that idea, it was written off. No one in the fleet knew how to use the Stargate, especially dial Earth. The Pegasus would have to leave and go back to the Colonies before they could try any attempts to get the people off of the planet. Cain was worried that the Cylons would do something to the population in the absence of the Pegasus. Hell, there wasn't even any reason why the Pegasus would stop them. For all she knew, they were rallying their forces to attack the Pegasus and blow it out of the sky.
But there had to be some reason why they hadn't killed the population of this world and why they had dumped the Colonial POWs here. Cain just couldn't think of it.
Cain was escorted to a field command tent that had been set up in the hours since the landing party had arrived. Stepping into it, she could see several older men and women who had not had an easy life. Their skin was tough and rubbery and many of them had sores over them. They were all in a pair of BDUs that had been given to them, drinking water.
"Commander Cain. This is Amaguen. He is the eldest of the Colonial personnel in the nearby village Hadronte," the field commander said while introducing the same man that had approached the Environmental Analyst.
"It's an honour to meet you," Commander Cain said while shaking his hand with both of hers. She signalled for him to sit down, and Cain did likewise. There were other Colonial officers present, all of them ready to take notes and hear what Amaguen had to say. "From what I understand, you've all been here for thirty-two years?" Cain questioned.
"Yes. We were held in ships for a long time in dark cages. I don't know how long. Then the Cylons put us here," Amaguen explained. "I was twenty-three at the time, and one of the oldest of us that I know of. The rest were mostly children," he said in stunted Colonial Standard. Cain was guessing that it was not often that he used it.
"Have you seen the Cylons since?" Cain asked after a few moments of silence.
"Yes, yes. They used to come regularly. Come into the villages… Take people. Colonial and Subsquitrisen alike," he said. Cain had been briefed that the Subsquitrisen were the indigenous population of the planet. "Now, not so much. But they come and take our children, babies, and pregnant women. They look in our houses at our things, burn down our temples and religious places and anyone inside them. Not so bad really. Compared to before. We hide our children under the ground when they come."
Cain continued to question them for half an hour, learning that the Colonials in the immediate region were scattered throughout each of the villages. None of the Colonials in front of them knew of the situation on the whole planet, not being able to travel to far-away villages and cross seas. Cain already knew that there were Colonials in those villages as well, she had people questioning them there as well. She also found out that on several occasions, they had tried to fight-off the Cylons to no success. They also didn't know if any other of the Colonial abductees might have been put on other planets either – everyone they had been with for the journey here had been put with them on the planet. No one knew of any Lucy Cain.
Cain was about to wrap up the meeting and head back to Pegasus. She had to consider her words very carefully before proceeding.
"To cut through it. We are not a rescue mission," she stated, watching the look on the Colonial's faces. "We are an exploration mission. We are just one Battlestar, the rest of our fleet has turned and gone back to the Colonies a week ago. We can not rescue you off of this planet," she continued. "You are a long, long way from the Colonies. We have to turn back and head back towards the Colonies in two days," she said, as a distraught look began to come across each of their faces. "But we will be back, with more ships and we will be able to protect you. Those of you who wish to come home will be able to. You have my word… We will leave you with as many supplies as we can spare until we return," Cain said. She waited a few moments, looking into their faces. It looked as if they were going to protest, but then Cain could see the logistics of it sinking into their faces. Amaguen nodded in recognition and agreed to Cain's promise.
Cain left the tent and headed back to the Raptor to take her back to Pegasus. She knew in her gut that it was unlikely that the Admiralty would honour her promise of returning and protecting the planet from the Cylons, but she had her mental fingers crossed that they did. Director Tynall had indicated that her career could benefit from this mission becoming a success. She hoped that the benefit would allow her to pull some strings and put pressure on the decision makers to support her and the protection of this planet. After all there was still the possibility that Lucy may be here.
Two Days Later – Planet Delta
The Pegasus spun up its FTL drive and left the system. They had left several surveillance satellites in orbit of the planet. All of their surplus supplies had been distributed around the largest villages and towns on the surface. They had supplied those who were capable with weapons to fend-off the Cylons should they return in the intervening time between Pegasus's departure and a possible return fleet. It wasn't much, but it was something to slightly help to even the odds against the Cylons should they return.
That Same Time - Cimmera
SG1 and several Colonial Infantry teams stood in stunned silence as they watched a massive ship, shrouded in cloud, emit pure white rays of light and sweep the Goa'uld from the planet. Despite the Colonial reinforcements, they had been captured by Heru'ur's forces. It had been the Colonials first engagement with the Goa'uld, and they had been caught off-guard.
SG1 had just made real-time contact with the Asgard, an advanced race posing as Gods, protecting the world Cimmera. Jack watched as the Asgard mothership, as Teal'c called it, lifted up and disappeared from the atmosphere. He was relieved beyond belief that their asses had been pulled out of the fire, so to speak.
Part of him was wondering why this advanced race, the Asgard, who could wipe a planet clean of Goa'uld in a matter of minutes, did not do more against the Goa'uld across the galaxy. The other part of him already knew the answer. Much like the Nox, the Asgard did not see it as their role to intervene in the trivialities of 'younger races', and had only decided to protect this world as part of a much larger scheme. There was something about wisdom in there, but Jack didn't have the time or the mental ability to work it out.
What Jack O'Neill didn't know was that before the Asgard mothership began to beam the Goa'uld from the planet, it had taken a reading of the biological signature of every humanoid being on the planet. The ship had done this to confirm that the interference with their device was indeed because of people from Earth being present on the planet. The ship had also detected and recognised the presence of the Colonials who were with SG1. This caused the Asgard occupants on-board to alter their course back to their origin to go via three solar systems containing twelve habitable worlds.